From personal use, Ghost is still faster than ZFD. Even after Reverend Ted's promise that ZFD 4 would be faster. HOWEVER, the managment with in ZFD 3.2/4 is hands down much better than Ghost.
Go to this link to answer common questions;
The key is using the PXE feature. In ZFD 3.2 it is an add on purchase from Novell. In ZFD 4, it is built in. When you use PXE, you get the true value out of the software. Using the Imaging Partition can be confusing and difficult to roll out in a working enviroment. In the desktop managment packages I've rolled out, I've always included the PXE feature. It allows for shops with no IT or small IT to take on a "15 minute do or die" policy. What this means is that if an issue comes up that can not be fixed in 15 minutes, then we just image the workstation and go. Saves a lot of time and money for my clients (plus I don't have to figure out every single stupid issue that comes up with an M$ OS anymore). To make this work you have to put in the time and effort to get all of the back ground work done.
You also MUST have a company policy in place that tells the users to store all personal DATA on a server, never the workstation. The workstation MUST be expendable in the even of a failure. If your users store data on the workstation, then your job is much more difficult if you don't have a product like iFolder in place.
You will also need to create "Self-Healing" applications.
The process will bascily go like this;
You will need a separate image for each mother board in your network (NIC, Video and everything else does not matter). You can get away with a single image that uses overlay images by utilizing a third party product to help strip drivers for you. These guys have such a product
.
Once you have setup your workstation with all the settings you want, use the Microsoft SYSPREP tool (RTFM on usage) to shut the system down and prep it for imaging.
This tool will remove the SID and force the system to run a mini setup when it first boots up. You can make this mini setup completly automated, see this link for additional info
Once you have a system up and running, the user can install their own apps using the self healing deployed icons. If you have NDPS in place, or iPrint, the user can also install their own apps.
This is not a slam dunk procedure. Expect it to take about 3 to 4 weeks of testing to get your image to work right. Once it is done, it works great. I have about 3 client sites that have no IT, and have not required an on site vist for some time now (about 6 months). When they have a workstation issue, I just use pcAnyware, Windows Terminal, or Citrix to access the network remotly. Take remote control over the workstation and try to fix it. If I can't, I shut down the pc, tell the user to go have a coffee break. Tell NDS to image the PC on next boot, the remote wake the PC. Wait about 20-30 minutes. Once the system has compete the image, the mini setup, the renaming, and registering with DS, I run a quick test to ensure everything is fine and the previous issue is gone. If the issue is still there, then the issue is something else. It could be either the workstation hardware or something on the network.
Brent Schmidt CNE,
Network + ![[atom] [atom] [atom]](/data/assets/smilies/atom.gif)
Senior Network Engineer
Keep IT Simple ![[rofl] [rofl] [rofl]](/data/assets/smilies/rofl.gif)